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Lucas Sport ignition coil
- Thread starter sp53
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New Sport Coil
"Real" Sports Coil
I don't know if the "real" ones were any better than the modern, new ones...but they sure looked much cooler!
I love sports coils, they really come into their own as you pass 15,000 rpm, but otherwise the faster rise time can be a nuisance in that your spark may appear somewhere less useful than at the plugs with consequent failure. Widening the plug gap increases the risk, usually for the rotor arm.
Therefore I use a 12 Volts general purpose ignition coil of the highest primary resistance I can find. One that takes so little current that you can hardly see the ammeter move when you turn the ignition on. I run a Healey 3000, a TR3A and a Bentley MKVI this way as I have my cars since th sixties.
Ash
Therefore I use a 12 Volts general purpose ignition coil of the highest primary resistance I can find. One that takes so little current that you can hardly see the ammeter move when you turn the ignition on. I run a Healey 3000, a TR3A and a Bentley MKVI this way as I have my cars since th sixties.
Ash
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OTOH, I've a couple of those old "red" ones that are still going strong after 35-40 years! :laugh:
I am sorry for not being clearer. The two coils in question are like the first one in Andy’s picture. The one I purchased last week is about 10% smaller than the one I got 8 years ago. The box and coil look the same. I guess they could have used smaller wirer in the winding of the wire, and still got 40,000 volts. I love those old stock coils. I had two of them, but they both failed. What coil should I use on a stock tr3? Geo is that an old one or new one.
Steve
Steve
dklawson said:
No apparently not, the benefit is after about 15,000 revs!
I've had four Lucas ignition coils fail in the last couple of years and all have caused major inconvenience.
Two emptied their oil out and failed (they are terminals down on a MKVI) one failed on the Bristol and I had to go home on a trailer and then another failed on the Bentley despite being the right way up. The reason for the last two to fail was that although they were labelled as 12 volts, they were drawing far too much current because they were 6 or intended for a ballast resistor.
Now I avoid Lucas if I can, they aren't Lucas any more anyway, they are American owned I believe and the stuff is sourced from all over the place.
The risk with sports coils is that the spark builds up more quickly so arcing other than at the plugs is more likely. Most don't have problems, but if you have rotor arm problems, it can be sports coils.
Ash
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Maybe that's the problem, Ash! The current owners of the Lucas name are trading on it rather than (no snickers, please) doing anything that would actually maintain the reputation they had (stop laughing!) for some pretty darned good quality parts. In over 40 years of driving Triumphs, I've only ever had one coil fail, and that was back in the early 1970s on a Mk3 Spitfire (ok, now you can chuckle a little if you must). But my current driver '62 Herald is still running just fine on its original coil! On the other hand, I might find out in the coming months how good the current "Lucas brand" contact points sets are....
TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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I've been saying that for years : Not all "12v" coils are intended to be used without a ballast resistor. In fact, by far the most common style available in the USA is "12v ballast required".EV2239 said:
And Lucas Sports coils do come in both flavors (no ballast vs ballast required).
Ken Gillanders (British Frame & Engine) once wrote for the club newsletter that he had gotten in a case of 12 new Lucas Sports coils. Put on a coil tester, over half of them were either totally dead, or did not work right!
The one I bought at TRfest 2009 failed a few months ago.
And as Andy points out, "Lucas" is just a name that has been sold and re-sold many times in the past few decades. Last time I checked, there were something like 6 or 8 different companies that had the right to use the Lucas name in one area or another!
So, just like modern Minis, any resemblance to the original product is purely coincidental.
TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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FWIW, I am going with a Pertronix 3.0 ohm coil on the TR3. Not as sexy as "Lucas Sports", but I tend to value function over form anyway.sp53 said:
https://www.amazon.com/PerTronix-40511-Flame-Thrower-Volt-Coil/dp/B00199BO4C
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Steve, poolboy: Does the smaller one even have the Lucas name molded on anywhere as the larger one appears to...or do they just slap a cheap sticker on to "brand" it?
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